CAMERAS COMING: Mobile Speed Cams Approved

Polk County is the next place where speeding drivers will have to be on the lookout for automated traffic enforcement.

Tuesday morning, the Polk County board of supervisors followed the lead of Des Moines and Windsor Heights and voted in favor of using mobile speed cameras.

“When you talk traffic cameras, it’s an issue that does get people excited,” says Supervisor John Mauro.

The measure passed without any public comment, by a vote of three-to-two.

“I know people will say well, it’s about the money, but it’s not. It slowed me down and it will slow people down and that’s the purpose of this,” says Mauro after voting in favor of the cameras.

“My constituents are saying we don’t believe in them and we don’t want them,” says Supervisor E.J. Giovannetti.

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office plans to set up two roaming speed cameras in Polk County. They say drivers will know the locations ahead of time and the automated traffic enforcement won’t cost the county any money.

“I think that we`re going to find that the public is accepting and we`re going to move ahead with the understanding that yes they do produce revenue, but they also produce safety,” says Sheriff Bill McCarthy.

Drivers caught speeding will get a ticket in the mail and face a civil fine starting at $65.

“I have a really hard time drawing a distinction between the way we treat people who speed with a camera versus those who are stopped by a police officer and given a ticket,” says Giovannetti.

Sheriff McCarthy says the two mobile speed cameras could be up and running in Polk County by March 1st.

With the latest additions, nearly 24 cameras are keeping an eye on metro drivers.

The City of Clive was the first to install them; they have 9 red-light cameras. Des Moines has 5 red light cameras and two speed cameras.